Trump just moved to tap a top impeachment lawyer to represent him in Mueller probe

With the heat from the Mueller investigation beginning to singe his toes, President Trump is looking to augment his legal team with an experienced impeachment attorney, according to a report today in The New York Times.

Emmet T. Flood, a Washington DC lawyer who is a veteran of the team that defended former president Bill Clinton during his impeachment ordeal, met with Trump in the Oval Office earlier this week to discuss the possibility of representing him in the Special Counsel’s probe of electoral malfeasance in collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice in conjunction with the investigation.

The Times attributes the story to four people familiar with the matter, two of whom say that no decision has been made by either the president or Mr. Flood regarding the representation.

White House insiders say that Trump’s decision to approach the attorney doesn’t stem from new developments in the investigation, but does amount to an admittance that the probe is unlikely to be winding down anytime soon. They also say that the intention is not to replace the current lead attorney representing Trump in his interactions with Mueller’s team, Ty Cobb, but The Times says:

“Mr. Cobb has told friends for weeks that he views his position as temporary and does not expect to remain in the job for much longer.”

The primary responsibility that Cobb has handled to date for the president has been overseeing the production of requested documents and scheduling the multiplicity of White House and campaign aides called in for questioning by prosecutors.

With those tasks mostly completed and Trump’s personal lawyers handling the negotiations with Mueller over the outlines of presidential testimony in the investigation, the time to bring in someone experienced in the ins and outs of the impeachment process is apparently nigh.

Neither the White House nor Mr. Flood has commented to the newspaper about the discussions over the potential engagement as of the publication of this story, but the scent of impending impeachment is wafting in the air.